On August 16th the Phillies played a double header against the Mets, and to say that they started it off on the wrong foot would be an understatement. The "game" (scare quotes intended) was outlandish in many ways. Here are ten of them: The Phillies lost by 20 runs. It's only the third time they've … Continue reading Week 21: Ten Things About A Trouncing

Baseball fans are generally fans of teams first - grow up in Philly, you're a Phillies fan; in Seattle, you're a Mariners fan; in Florida, you're probably wondering why you're a Marlins fan. From there, you become a fan of whatever league your team of choice belongs to. National League fans generally extol the virtues … Continue reading Week 13: The AL is Very Good and Very Bad

Rhys "The Beast" Hoskins has had a roller coaster of a season. After a stretch in which he was arguably the best hitter in baseball, it seemed like the only thing he could hit was the skids. The days turned to weeks and still there was no end in sight for the slump. Adding injury … Continue reading Week 11 and 12: The Return of the Beast

Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote that the Phillies offense hadn't slumped thanks to a rotating cast of contributors. Since then, the offense has entered total free fall mode. Time makes fools of us all...just not usually so quickly (While I'm at it, other things that haven't happened yet - Aaron Nola perfect … Continue reading Week 10: Something is Broken

On May 26th, the Phillies entered the night 1/2 a game back from first place. It's something that had happened 16 times before this season. Those previous 16 times they had failed to overtake first place - either by their own shortcomings or the heroics of the team they were chasing. The 17th time they … Continue reading Week 9: For a Moment, First Place

I could write about the recent struggles of Rhys Hoskins. The man who looked unstoppable to begin the season has come down to earth quite a bit, and there's a lot that I could unpack there. But I won't. Because as much as Hoskins carried the team to begin the season, the team hasn't missed … Continue reading Week 8: The Phillies Offense Has Not Slumped

You cannot deny him. Once the subject of derision, Carlos Santana is now the team's hottest hitter (picking up the slack for a suddenly slumping slugger in Left). After bottoming out at a .532 OPS on April 18th, he's put up a .908 OPS to bring his season total into respectable territory. Such a drastic … Continue reading Week 7: Was Carlos Santana Walking Too Much?

Every time J.P. Crawford strikes out or makes an error, a chorus cries out. "This wouldn't have happened if Freddy was still here!" "Freddy was a defensive wizard. They should have held onto him." "J.P. isn't ready, Klentak and his analytics got this one wrong!" If you count yourself among these people, please - stop … Continue reading Week 6: Stop Missing Freddy Galvis